


in medias res.

by badaltin



Series: end of days 'verse [2]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Apocalypse, Black Dog (Ghost), Cemetery, Christian Mythology, Church Grim (Ghost), Dark, F/M, Gen, Ghosts, M/M, Paranormal, Supernatural Elements, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 02:12:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15233112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badaltin/pseuds/badaltin
Summary: “You’ve got an entire cemetery of ghosts to talk to, JJ.”JJ casts his eyes out before them, and there’s a somber edge to his voice. “They haven’t been talking much, lately.”.JJ is surprisingly needy for a church grim; Otabek pays him a visit one Sunday morning.





	in medias res.

**Author's Note:**

> not exactly a prequel, this has no set position on the timeline of this series. 
> 
> cross-posted to tumblr [here](http://badaltin.tumblr.com/post/176461796415/12k-words-supernatural-elements-jjbek)

Otabek crests the hill about half an hour before Sunday Mass is due to begin. He cuts out the engine of his motorcycle on the edge of the parking lot, and soon the morning fog drapes itself over him like a woolen shawl. It is so thick here that he can only clearly see about thirty feet in any direction. He stows away his helmet and, boots crunching irreverently on gravel, he pushes open the graveyard’s cast iron gate.

Despite his limited visibility, it doesn’t take long before he spots JJ, reclining on a bench still dewy from the dawn. In his mind, Otabek has taken to calling it _JJ’s bench_ – like how, to him, this is _JJ’s graveyard_.

“Hey, Beks,” JJ says, teeth bared in a wolfish grin. “Nice of you to drop by.”

Otabek sits down next to him and hands over a pack of cigarettes. JJ makes a pleased noise in the back of his throat, and deftly places one between his lips. He pulls out a matchbox from his black jacket and lights it. The ephemeral match flare illuminates the mist around them, transforming it into a glittering cage of clouds before it dies beneath JJ’s heel. In the air, tobacco smoke permeates the damp, earthy aroma of the grounds.

JJ inhales, eyes falling shut. And then he exhales. 

“Want one?” he asks, turning his head to the younger man beside him.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

JJ shrugs around another lungful of smoke. A placid silence stretches around and over them like the borders of an unending ocean, and both allow themselves to be swept away by the tide. JJ’s graveyard is one of the only places where Otabek can reliably find peace. He appreciates it.

“So,” JJ begins, after he’s burned through several cigarettes. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Almost thought you forgot about me.”

“Sorry about that.” Otabek absently flicks at his zipper.

JJ waves his hand. “It’s alright! What have you been doing, then?” 

Otabek shrugs. “Not a lot.”

“Oh, come on, Beks, there’s gotta be something interesting you can tell me! You know how lonely it gets here.”

“You’ve got an entire cemetery of ghosts to talk to, JJ.”

JJ casts his eyes out before them, and there’s a somber edge to his voice. “They haven’t been talking much, lately.”

They pause, as two men might around a subject they are well-educated on but are hesitant to breach. JJ ducks his head. Otabek sighs through his nose.

“I haven’t been doing many fights,” Otabek admits.

JJ furrows his brow. “Then how are you getting cash?”

Otabek shrugs.

“Tell me.”

Otabek sighs again, bracing his forearms on his knees. “You won’t like it.”

“Tell me!” JJ nudges his side, ever-present smile crooked. 

Otabek lets his plea ring out between them for a beat. Then, “I’m running with this angel.”

JJ’s mouth shutters. Tension ripples through his shoulders, and Otabek wonders if he’s given too much away. JJ breathes, and it is a heavy thing. “Does this angel have a name?”

“Maybe. I call him Yuri.”

His name dances off the tip of Otabek’s tongue, and it is almost a physical departure. Bereaving. The last time Otabek saw him was six days ago, splayed out across the floor of his apartment and doing nothing to help Otabek find his keys. When Otabek returned, it was like he had never been there.

Otabek thinks about Yuri burning jackets on the roof of his building, his thinly-veiled rage trembling through his fine-boned fingers. He could be anywhere, right now. With Viktor, in his mansion. With Yuuri, at a bar. Alone, hopping the buses. Alone, wandering the streets and scowling at commuters. Alone, on the wrong side of a balcony just to try and taste the wind again. Alone, alone, alone.

“Otabek,” JJ starts, and Otabek knows what he’s going to say. “You know what I’m going to say.”

“I know, JJ.”

“But you don’t. You don’t know anything.” JJ grits his teeth. “You don’t know his motives, or what he’s being told. He’s dangerous.”

“Yeah.” 

“Don’t agree with me if you don’t care!” JJ ruffles his hair out of irritation.

“I said you wouldn’t like it.”

JJ throws his head back, exposing the length of his neck. His Adam’s apple bobs as he says, “I don’t want you to get hurt. Is that too much to ask for?”

Otabek can’t help it: he snorts. “That’s what I say about Bella, but you don’t listen to me then.”

“Bella’s different.”

Otabek responds with silence.

JJ groans, and leans forward on his elbows. “Don’t you give me that look, Altin! You _know_ she’s different!”

“Because she’s human.”

JJ stops short. 

“But you aren’t.” Otabek doesn’t phrase it as a question.

The gate behind them creaks. Sharp-heeled footsteps steadily grow louder until a smartly-dressed woman walks through the veil of fog and startles at Otabek.

“Oh,” she says, one hand fluttering to her heart while the other tenses around a beautifully-arranged bouquet. “I’m sorry, sir! I didn’t mean to intrude!”

Otabek shrugs. “You didn’t.” He glances behind her. “Has Mass let out?”

The woman nods. “It was a gorgeous service. Father Donally’s homily today was especially touching.”

_Ah_ , Otabek thinks as JJ shuffles beside him. _This must be her_. 

“Did you come here alone?” asks Isabella.

“Yes,” Otabek says. He doesn’t look at JJ. “I talk to myself sometimes.” 

Isabella’s lips quirk into a smile, and it is a pretty thing. “You are your own best conversational partner, in my opinion,” she says wryly. Otabek thinks he starts to understand where JJ’s coming from.

“Keep her talking,” JJ pleads. Against his misanthropic tendencies, Otabek acquiesces.

“Did you come all this way to give me flowers?” Otabek asks stone-faced, and Isabella gifts him with a tinkling laugh like windchimes.

“You wish,” she says with a wink. Her eyes are warm. “These are for my parents.” She gestures to a headstone to her right, directly in front of where Otabek and JJ are sitting.

“I’ll give you some privacy then.” Otabek rises to his feet, brushing loose wrinkles from his jeans.

“Oh, I don’t mean to chase you away!” Isabella says, but he’s already making his way towards the gate.

“Don’t worry about it. I should be going, anyway.” Otabek pauses and turns around to face her. “It was nice meeting you. I wish you the best.”

His eyes dart over to JJ, who waves his goodbye. “See ya, Beks!” he says, but his voice is different for the woman now tenderly placing flowers on her parents’ granite headstone. Full of lovesick adoration. And sadness.

JJ was always so expressive. Otabek wonders if he gets that from the human whose shape he takes, or if JJ is just naturally free with his emotions.

It doesn’t matter.

Otabek fixes his helmet in place, and kicks off, roaring down the asphalt. Yuri might be back in his room, playing with the lighters he forgets to return. Or, Otabek might be going home to an empty apartment.

JJ is right. On all accounts, he is right. But Otabek is a slave to the magnetic pull between him and his angel, and he’s done fighting it.

He lets the last few dregs of doubt fly away from him as he races back, only wondering when he will see Yuri again.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i recommend subscribing to the series so you can stay updated!
> 
> leave a comment if you enjoyed, and drop me a line on [tumblr](http://badaltin.tumblr.com/)
> 
> edit: here's the general [series tag](http://badaltin.tumblr.com/tagged/eod%E2%80%99v) on my blog
> 
> cross-posted to tumblr [here](http://badaltin.tumblr.com/post/176461796415/12k-words-supernatural-elements-jjbek)


End file.
